The SitePoint Forums have moved.

You can now find them here.
This forum is now closed to new posts, but you can browse existing content.
You can find out more information about the move and how to open a new account (if necessary) here.
If you get stuck you can get support by emailing forums@sitepoint.com

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

2 & 3 column design that X Platform

Is there such a thing as a 3 column design and 2 column design that works on all platform and browsers?? A lot of the examples I have seen say work in x amount but fail in these and badly fail in these.

I am not a designer or experienced in anyway but surely a problem with using CSS for layout is cross browser issues. Yes a better designed page with CSS but if your customers use a browser on a platform your design doesn’t work on then there is no point.

Any website should work and be tested in IE6, IE7, Firefox, Opera and Safari as a minimum.

For any good designer, it's not that difficult. However, for so called designers who rely on software like Dreamweaver to churn out invalid code that then relies on browsers error handling then it's a different matter.

Experienced designers will also code using web standards, validate their HTML and CSS and ensure that their site works correctly in standards compliant browsers first and if these methods are followed then it's not hard to get compatibility in IE7, Firefox, Opera and Safari without a single hack.

IE6 has some bugs and a few fixes are needed to be put in place to get it to play nicely but it's certainly possible in all cases.

I'd even go as far to say that it's possible to get IE5.5 to be consistent as well with a little extra work and whilst I wouldn't usually cater for IE5.5, if a client asked me to then it's not an awful lot of extra work just to put a few box model fixes in place.

So yeah, when valid CSS is used with valid HTML and is coded to the latest standards compliance browsers then it's certainly achievable to gain consistency, even for complicated layouts.

but surely a problem with using CSS for layout is cross browser issues.

Tables for layout have almost as many issues cross browser. In fact most of the old table sites still around are just designed for one browser (i.e. IE) and fall to pieces in some modern browsers.

Any good designer is aware of the CSS issues and will code accordingly. It's not that difficult but it does need to be learned. CSS has been around a long time now and there is no excuse for a designer not to know the ins and outs of the tools of the trade.

Do they work cross-browser/platform? Yes and no. If you're talking about computer screens then yes. Mobile devices would be (for the most part) a resounding NO due to the small size of the screens.

Here's the main thing though. Coders tend to over-complicate (not to mention over-think) their "solutions" and fail to test properly across all four rendering engines at multiple font sizes (.dpi settings - in other words, "normal" fonts and "large fonts"), browser window sizes (screen resolution is meaningless) and also color differences (for those who have some form of color blindness). Fortunately though, not everybody does this, and actually pays attention to what they were taught (assuming they were taught properly in the first place) and does things the right way.

Though as with Perl, when it comes to HTML and CSS, there's a million different ways to skin the same cat.

Cheers for the advice guys. I suppose that as long as you cover most bases you should be ok. I imagine that to get a 100&#37; working design is very hard to achieve but as long as the site renders readable and looks ok for users it should be ok.

Paul o’b I have followed your links in your signature and they seem an excellent source, thank you, your blog as already been bookmarked looks a good read. Particularly enjoyed your you tube Robinho Falcao video.

When my computer isn't acting up or I'm not caught up with work or personal projects that NEED to get finished so I can have something to show to prospective clients other than HTML/CSS wireframes (since most of what I do is subcontracting and work-for hire).

Tables shouldn't be used for Web site layouts though. They were originally meant to be used to present tabular data. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Use the right tools for the job.